Jim Bakker, televangelist who co-founded "The PTL Club" empire, dies at 86

THIS ONE MADE ME PUT MY PHONE DOWN BECAUSE JIM BAKKER IS DEAD AT 86! EIGHTY-SIX YEARS OLD, WHICH IS WILD BECAUSE HE WAS LITERALLY A HOUSEHOLD NAME BACK IN THE DAY WITH THE PTL CLUB AND HIS FIRST WIFE TAMMY FAYE! I MEAN, THEY BUILT THIS MASSIVE EVANGELICAL EMPIRE AND THEN WATCHED IT ALL CRUMBLE BECAUSE OF A SEX SCANDAL AND FINANCIAL CRIMES, WHICH IS HONESTLY SUCH A WILD TURN OF EVENTS! HIS WIFE LORI BAKKER CONFIRMED HE PASSED AWAY ON MONDAY NEAR BRANSON, MISSOURI, THOUGH SHE DID NOT SAY WHAT THE CAUSE WAS! HE HAD A STROKE BACK IN 2020, BUT APPARENTLY WAS STILL RUNNING THE JIM BAKKER SHOW DOWN THERE! IT IS JUST A MAJOR PIECE OF TV HISTORY GONE, MAN. ANYWAY DO YOU WANT ANOTHER DRINK?

THIS IS GOING TO SOUND FAKE BUT JIM BAKKER, THE GUY FROM THE PTL CLUB, ACTUALLY DIED AT 86! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME JIM BAKKER WHO BECAME A MASSIVE CULTURAL ICON WITH TAMMY FAYE BEFORE EVERYTHING WENT SOUTH WITH THOSE FINANCIAL CRIMES AND SCANDALS! HIS CURRENT WIFE LORI SAYS HE PASSED ON MONDAY UP IN MISSOURI WHERE THEY HAD BEEN FILMING HIS SHOW SINCE 2003! THEY ARE NOT SAYING WHAT KILLED HIM YET, THOUGH HE HAD THAT STROKE A FEW YEARS AGO, WHICH IS JUST ROUGH! IT IS WEIRD THINKING ABOUT HOW HUGE HE WAS, GETTING PARODIED ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE AND EVERYTHING, AND NOW HE IS JUST GONE. LIKE, THAT IS A WHOLE ERA OF TELEVISION HISTORY RIGHT THERE. OK NOW BACK TO YOUR STORY, SORRY.

Televangelist Jim Bakker, who rose to fame with The PTL Club before his career was impacted by scandal, has died at age 86 in Missouri.

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